Valentin Vygovskii

On 18 September 2014, he was detained in Simferopol, later transferred to Moscow and placed in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention centre. The Ukrainian Embassy was officially notified of his detention only two weeks later.

Initially, Valentin Vygovskii was accused of illegal acquisition and disclosure of commercial secrets. According to the case materials, at the time of his detention he was handing over money to a Russian citizen in exchange for certain secret information. However, the charges were later reclassified to espionage.

Vygovskii told his relatives that he was tortured during the investigation, including being taken into the woods for a simulated execution by firing squad. According to him, he was offered to cooperate with the Russain security services, and the charges were intensified after he refused.

According to investigators, Vygovskii collected design and other technical documentation of the 117C combat aircraft engine, which constituted a state secret, allegedly for transfer to a representative of the Chinese military attaché in Belgium. He was said to have received assistance from employees of Russian aviation and space enterprises for this purpose.

At the same time, Vygovskii’s lawyer asserts that the case file contains no evidence of his client having contacts with any intelligence services: he simply collected certain information in the hope of selling it in the future.

On 15 December 2015, Valentin Vygovskii was sentenced to 11 years in a strict regime penal colony.

Since mid-2016, he has been held in a colony in Kirovo-Chepetsk (Kirov Region).

In September 2025, he was released from the colony. He was then placed in the Temporary Detention Centre for Foreign Citizens pending deportation.